Battle of the Bombers

The Mighty Eighth Podcast

In this episode, we visit the American Air Museum at Duxford for a hotly contested debate: which was the best WW2 heavy bomber?

Was it the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress or was it the Consolidated B-24 Liberator?

The museum is home to the biggest collection of American military aircraft on public display outside the USA.

And it is the only place in the UK where you can stand side by side between a Fortress and a Liberator.

We discuss the merits – and sometimes fatal flaws – of both iconic planes with museum curator Dr Hattie Hearn.

We debate their armaments, their bomb loads – and the ability of each aircraft to successfully complete a mission and return home.

And we find out what it was like for the crew during combat – including inside the ball turret.

The museum stands as a memorial to the 30,000 American servicemen and women who died while flying from Britain between 1942 and 1945.

Their names appear on a special digital Roll of Honour, which draws names and photographs from the museum archive into the exhibition space.

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With very special thanks to the American Air Museum for welcoming us and allowing us to record this episode.

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